Psychology Chapter 1.docx

Psychology chapter 1:
 Psychology
o Psyche = “soul”
o Logos = study of a subject
 Structuralism – led by Edward Titchener
o Based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic
elements and investigating how these elements are related
o Most of their work concerned sensation – vision, hearing and touch
o More interested in being in the laboratory, experimenting
o Introspection method  systemic self-observation of one’s own conscious experience
 Functionalism – inspired by ideas of William James
o Based on the belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of
consciousness rather than its structure
o William James argued that the structuralist’s approach missed the real nature of
conscious experience, he argued that consciousness consists of a continuous flow of
thoughts
o Functionalists were more concerned with how people adapt their behavior to the
demands of the real world around them
o Other functionalist’s began mental testing, pattern of development in children, the
effectiveness of educational practices and behavioral differences between the sexes
 Behaviorism - lead by John B. Watson
o Is a theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study
only observable behavior
o Watson
 wanted psychologists to abandon the study of consciousness altogether
 asserted that psychologists could study anything humans do or say but they
could not scientifically the thoughts, wishes and feelings that accompany these
observable traits
o Definition of Behavior  refers to any overt (observable) response or activity by an
organism
o Behaviorists eventually came to view psychologies mission as an attempt to relate overt
behaviors “responses” to observable events in the environment “stimuli”
o Stimulus  any detectable input from the environment
o Because the behaviorists investigated stimulus – response relationships, the behavioral
approach is often referred to as stimulus – response psychology
o In the behaviorists approach, consciousness was deleted from their scope of concern
and they no longer needed to study human subjects, it was thought that animals would
make better research subjects  Sigmund Frued
o Australian physician whose approach to psychology grew out of his efforts to treat
patients with mental disorders such as anxiety, irrational fears and obsessions with a
procedure he called psychoanalysis
o Unconsciousness  contains thoughts, memories and desires that are well below the
surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior
o he based this idea on a variety of observations
o eventually concluded that psychological disturbances are caused by person conflicts
existing at an unconscious level
o psychoanalytic theory:
 attempts to explain personality, motivation, and mental disorders by focusing
on unconscious determinants (causes)of behavior
 unconscious motives and experiences in early childhood govern personality and
mental disorders
 B.F. Skinner
o Philosophy of radical behaviorism
o Didn’t deny the existence of internal mental events but he redefined them as private
events and didn’t think they needed recognition when explaining behavior
o Argued that psychology could understand and predict behavior adequately without
resorting to physiological explanations
o Fundamental principle of behavior according to Skinner  organisms tend to repeat
responses that lead to positive outcomes, and they tend not to repeat responses that
result in neutral or negative outcomes
o In his experiments, Skinner showed that he could exert remarkable control over the
behavior of animals by manipulating the outcomes of their responses
o Arrived at the conclusion that free will is an illusion : people are controlled by their
environment not by themselves
 The Humanists Revolt
o Psychoanalytic theory was attacked for its belief that behavior is dominated by
primitive, sexual urges
o Behaviorism was criticized for its preoccupation with the study of simple animal
behavior
o Both theories were criticized because they suggest that people are not masters of their
own destinies
o It was argued that both idea failed to recognize the unique qualities of HUMAN behavior
o In the 1950ls both ideas blended into an alliance that became known as HUMANISM  Humanism
o Is a theoretical orientation that emphasized the unique qualities of humans, especially
their freedom and their potential for personal growth
o Basic premise: humans are free, rational beings with the potential for persona l growth
and they are fundamentally different from animals
o Take an optimistic view of human nature
o Claim that because human are fundamentally different from animals, research on
animals has little relevance to the understanding of human behavior
o Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow were the architects of the humanistic movement
o Carl Rogers
 Argued that human behavior is governed primarily by each individuals sense of
self – which animals presumably lack
 He and Maslow maintained that to fully understand people’s behavior,
psychology must take into account the fundamental human drive toward
personal growth
 Applied psychology
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